Mexican Cartels Belong on State Department's List

U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, gets it. When drug cartel thugs order mass kidnappings, explode bombs, murder scores of public officials, behead victims or hang them from overpasses, and post signs in border-area cities warning of more violence if they don't get their way, that's not mere drug trafficking. That's terrorism. Finally, someone in Washington is taking action in response to the unprecedented threat on America's southern border.

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The $1.7 billion medical marijuana industry recently made its lobbying debut in Washington, D.C., with the National Cannabis Industry Association launching an effort to amend the federal tax law so that those who sell marijuana for medical purposes will be equal to other business owners.

The University of North Texas Department of Radio, Television and Film will present a free screening of "Waiting to Inhale: Marijuana, Medicine and the Law," a 2005 documentary that examines the heated debate over medical use of marijuana in the U.S., April 21.

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Re: March 27 commentary "America needs a plan to combat Mexico's cartels."

Regarding U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul's column, drugs did not spawn Mexico's organized crime networks. Just like alcohol prohibition gave rise to Al Capone, drug prohibition created the violent drug-trafficking organizations behind all the killings in Mexico. With alcohol prohibition repealed in the United States, liquor bootleggers no longer gunned each other down in drive-by shootings.

Drug prohibition funds organized crime at home and terrorism abroad, which is then used by shameless politicians to justify increased drug war spending. It's time to end this madness. Whether we like it or not, drugs are here to stay. Changing human nature is not an option. Reforming harmful drug laws is an option, one that Congress should pursue.

Robert Sharpe

Policy analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy

www.csdp.org

Arlington, Va.

[end]

Regarding Johnny Hickman's Viewpoints column Thursday, the drug war is largely a war on marijuana smokers.

In 2009, there were 858,405 marijuana arrests in the United States, almost 90 percent for simple possession. At a time when state and local governments are laying off police, firefighters and teachers, this country continues to spend enormous public resources criminalizing Americans who prefer marijuana to martinis.

The end result of this ongoing culture war is not necessarily lower rates of use.

The U.S. has higher rates of marijuana use than the Netherlands, where marijuana is legally available. Decriminalization is a long overdue step in the right direction.

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JUDGE OFFERS TO LET WILLIE NELSON OFF DRUGS JAIL SENTENCE . . . SO LONG AS HE SINGS HER FAVOURITE SONG IN COURT

Singer-songwriter and marijuana enthusiast Willie Nelson could have faced a lengthy jail term after he was arrested for possession in November.

But perhaps the Texas prosecutor has been smoking some of Willie's special cigarettes, because he has agreed to let the 77-year-old legend avoid prison but only if he gives the court a song.

Hudspeth County Attorney Kit Bramblett said: 'I'm gonna let him plead, pay a small fine and he's gotta sing "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" with his guitar right there in the courtroom.'

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On Feb. 15, Jaime Zapata and Victor Avila pleaded for their lives in Spanish, identifying themselves as American federal agents moments after members of a Mexican drug cartel forced their vehicle bearing U.S. diplomat plates off the highway in Central Mexico. The cartel responded by firing more than 80 rounds from automatic weapons. That event instantly changed the landscape of our nation's involvement in Mexico's bloody war.

For the first time in 25 years, cartels are targeting American law enforcement. Avila recently described the ambush by the Zeta cartel, comprised of former Mexican military special forces as "pure evil." Even at the Mexican hospital, he feared that they would come back and finish the job.

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Everyone knows that the American drug war is a total failure.

Having spent $1 trillion in the last 40 years, we now find that marijuana is cheaper, more potent and readily available to anyone who wants it. During the past 10 years, polls show that public school students consistently say that marijuana is easier to get than cigarettes or alcohol.

It is high time to end the insanity. Prohibition didn't work with alcohol and it won't work with drugs either.

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The drug-cartel violence in Juarez is hurting El Paso's image and making it more difficult to attract conventions, tourists and talent even though El Paso remains one of the safest cities in the nation, city officials said.

That has a new, city-convened group of 24 officials from the city, county, business groups, UTEP, Texas Tech, Fort Bliss, and media outlets, including the El Paso Times, trying to figure out how to enhance the city's image and get the word out about El Paso's assets.

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The FBI's blow against the Barrio Azteca last week showed that the region's dominant gang has continued to operate in spite of past racketeering cases that sent gang bosses to prison for life.

Experts said breaking a criminal organization as large as the Barrio Azteca is not done in one swing, but could take years in the same fashion the Italian mob was eventually crippled.

U.S. Attorney John E. Murphy on Wednesday announced a federal indictment of 35 alleged leaders, members and associates of the Barrio Azteca.

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Focus Efforts on Middle Layer of Drug Cartels

President Felipe Calderon visited Washington earlier this month amid a significant escalation in drug-related violence in Mexico and strained relations with the United States. However, it is critical that dissatisfaction on both sides does not give rise to purely symbolic actions aimed at placating concerns rather than achieving real results in ending the Mexican drug wars. Neither the U.S. nor Mexico will benefit from more frequent but less strategic hits against Mexico's drug gangs. Ramping up of the campaign against Mexico's drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) without being truly strategic may satisfy some critics, but it will not enhance the necessary development of law enforcement, justice and corrections institutions in Mexico that are needed to make real headway in ending the Mexican drug wars. Counterproductively, non-strategic action will likely further increase the violence and decrease Mexican public support for the effort in the long term.

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I seldom agree with the opinions of Jose de la Isla, but his column Tuesday concerning the war on drugs expressed my thoughts exactly. This is a "war" that will never be won -- prime example, Prohibition. Even with a constitutional amendment, no one who wanted to drink alcohol was prevented from doing so.

From the dawn of man, humans have been attracted to substances that alter their feelings and perceptions. Even other species tend to seek out fermenting fruit and other plant materials that make them drunk.

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Program Let Arms Go South, With Deadly Results

Disturbing recent news reports suggest that federal agents knowingly let arms buyers for Mexican drug cartels smuggle high-powered weaponry across the border, with deadly consequences for U.S. law enforcers. Mexican leaders have warned for years that lax U.S. enforcement of gun smuggling was fueling border-area violence, but they should be particularly disturbed to learn that, in some cases, weapons were being deliberately allowed to flow southward.

CBS News reported last week about Project Gunrunner, an operation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to track how weapons purchased in U.S. gun stores reached Mexican drug gangs. Had Gunrunner been a limited, tightly focused study, it might have provided useful intelligence to shut down major gun-smuggling operations. Instead, it went badly awry.

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It's clearly time for credible drug law reform (Proposed Texas Marijuana Bill Could Lessen Possession Penalties, Mar. 1, 2011) and at the very minimum that means decriminalizing the relatively safe, extremely popular God-given plant cannabis (marijuana).

Another reason to decriminalize cannabis that doesn't get mentioned is because it is Biblically correct since God, The Ecologician, indicates He created all the seed bearing plants saying they are all good, on literally the very first page (see Genesis 1:11-12 and 29-30). The only Biblical restriction placed on cannabis is to accept it with thankfulness (1 Timothy 4:1-5).

Stan White

[end]

I stopped by a head shop in East Dallas one evening last week. I wasn't in the market for drug paraphernalia but rather a philosophical discussion.

Customers were few at the Puff n Stuff Smoke Shop on Columbia Avenue, so I offered my question to a couple of clerks.

"Considering the violence in Mexico," I said, "wouldn't it make sense for people here to boycott drugs?"

"Boycott drugs? That's stupid," one of the clerks blurted. "I don't mean to offend you, but that's really dumb. Drugs are awesome!" For the record, I wasn't offended.

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U.S. authorities in Texas arrested three members of an alleged weapons trafficking ring and accused one of them of buying a pistol used in a February attack that killed a U.S. government agent in Mexico.

The three men are brothers [name1 redacted] and [name2 redacted], 27 and 22 years old, and [name3 redacted], 25. All were charged in criminal complaints filed in U.S. District Court in Dallas.

The men were the subject of an undercover investigation by agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Drug Enforcement Administration in November. Investigators were attempting to track weapons bought in the U.S. that were allegedly then smuggled into Mexico, according to an ATF affidavit filed in court. The affidavit alleges that the purchases were made on behalf of the drug gang known as Los Zetas, one of several groups fighting a bloody war for control of territory in Mexico.

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In the late 1700s, just after the British shot up the French and Indians, they turned their sights on the Colonies by demanding high taxes be sent back to Parliament. They had to pay the costs of having kicked French and Indian butt, you know.

Our ancestors the colonists, turned both cheeks, bent over and said, "Kick me!"

Our ancestors did not fight back and the United States of America never ... happened?

Wait a sec. Wrong part of North America. Wrong era.

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House Bill 548, which calls for reduced fines for possession of marijuana, goes to the Criminal Jurisprudence Committee in the Texas Legislature today.

The bill would lower the penalties for possession of one ounce or less of marijuana to a Class C Misdemeanor, reducing the fine from $2000 to $500 and eliminating the possibility of a criminal record. However, possession that is measured to be two ounces or less or more than one ounce is still considered to be a Class B Misdemeanor, which calls for a fine up to $2000 and up to 180 days in jail.

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THE POINT -- Study shows how drug policy often impedes medical care.

Fallout from our panic-driven war on drugs includes the demonization of medications that has reached irrational levels. Abuse by some has made many drugs unavailable to people who really need them, or driven some to live with their medical condition rather than endure the trouble of getting treatment.

Virtually all drugs, including those that now are illegal, originally were developed to help people. Heroin is a powerful painkiller; medications for pneumonia and other illnesses once contained cocaine. Even the active ingredient in marijuana is known to provide relief for glaucoma, the side effects of cancer treatments and other maladies.

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SAN ANGELO, Texas -- There was "victory" in Iraq and a pending one in Afghanistan. Now, we're told, it's time to turn our weapons to the war on drugs.

The need for an escalation led Army Undersecretary Joseph Westphal to plant the thought in public discourse that invading Mexico is not out of the question.

We don't like losing wars. We fight only for the right side because our intent is for a happy ending. Just consult a history book if you're in doubt.

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More than 100 people were arrested in the El Paso region in a crackdown on Mexican drug cartels in response to the killing of an ICE agent last week in Mexico, officials said Friday evening.

In Chihuahua City, authorities announced that a high-ranking member of the Juarez drug cartel was killed in a shootout with federal police earlier this week.

U.S. officials said 104 people were arrested as of Friday in the El Paso division of the DEA, which covers West Texas and New Mexico. The division has offices in El Paso, Las Cruces, Albuquerque, Midland and Alpine.

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